Cashman: "If Aaron Judge signs somewhere else, do we pivot and do something else? Do we remake ourselves completely? I have no idea.”

It's Judgement Day - Aaron Judge visits the Winter Meetings. While it's tempting to say the Yankee future hinges on No. 99's decision, it aint necessarily so.

The 2023 Yankees will be defined by their owner, and how rich he wants to be. 

Hal Steinbrenner will either loosen his checkbook - for Judge and ancillary talent - or the Yankees could actually be better off without their greatest slugger since Reggie. 

If Hal wins the Judge auction, then spends the rest of the winter poormouthing about payroll, the 2023 Yankees could become a one-man show. Bruce without the E-Street. Neil Young without Crazy Horse. The Captain without Tennile. 

Yesterday, the best free agent SS and SP - Trea Turner and Justin Verlander - signed huge contracts with NL East billionaires who have gone all-in. The docile Yankees never even burped. (In fairness, they'll probably use a rookie SS - Oswald Peraza or Anthony Volpe - and Verlander's age - 40 in February - rightfully deterred them.) 

Soon, Judge will issue his ruling. If it's SF, GM Brian Cashman must remake the Yankees from scratch. As stated above, he has no clue. Since 1998, when Cash inherited a championship franchise from Stick Michael and Bob Watson, he has sought to build via a two-pronged strategy - free agents and the farm. Basically, it has failed.  

Thanks to expanded playoffs, the Yanks always contend for a wild card. (In kiddie t-ball, everybody wins a prize.) But Cashman, who yesterday signed a four-year extension, has secured only one championship - 2009, after the Yanks systematically signed MLB's three top free agents. This year, with gaping holes at 3B, SS, LF, the bullpen - (and, gulp, RF?) - the Yankees would, once again, look like a wild card candidate, a Frankensteined roster of bloated salaries and scrap heap signings. 

Meanwhile, the Mets are throwing money at players. Soon, the Dodgers, Giants, Cubs and Redsocks will join in. With each signing, the price of Judge's magnetic stardom increases. 

Whatever he decides, Cashman will walk a perilous cliff. This could be the year when the Yankees completely flop - not only lose not only the AL East, but their home city. It's not up to you, New York, New York. It's up to the owner. How rich does he want to be?